KATANAGATARI 3

“Make no mistake─your head is next.”

Nanami─laughed.

Her laugh sounded evil to the core─tireless37 in its wickedness.

Losing Akuto the Eel─had made no difference.

“There, Shichika…now you have a good reason to fight.”

“You cut…Togame’s hair.”

No longer shaking─Shichika had frozen.

His eyes were clear of trepidation.38

Ferociously─he glowered at his sister.

“That I cannot forgive─Nanami.”

“Have a fetish for long hair? That’s one more thing─for you and Dad to have in common. You’re both disgusting. So guess what.”

Shichika’s indignation─had failed to get a rise out of Nanami.

“Rather than pluck you like a weed, I’ll pick you apart39 like the flower you are.”

“Go ahead, but that won’t be easy─if you’re torn to smithereens, sis.”

Togame held her tongue.

They may have captured Akuto the Eel─but the battle wasn’t over.

In fact, they were only getting started.

The family showdown!

The erstwhile strongest in Japan against her successor!

Nanami Yasuri versus Shichika Yasuri!

No plots or schemes, and may the best sword win─fight!

“I am Shichika Yasuri! Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─prepare to die!”

“And I am Nanami Yasuri! No school or loyalty─prepared to die!”40

■　■

But she could see41─that this would not be possible.

Nanami couldn’t help but see.

─Ahhhh.

The instant she had taken her first step, the foot that held her weight collapsed. And not only her foot─her whole body came apart.

Separating─unraveling.

The skin tore from her body, flaying her alive, exposing flesh that bled from every vein.

Blood sprayed.

With a body like hers.

─I saw this coming.

I knew my body─could never stand up to the full force of my strength.

It had been obvious.

That’s why─she’d tried to learn everyone’s moves.

Her father’s─and Shichika’s.

In order to be weak.

A weaker being.

That she may live─

Her mouth filled with the taste of blood.

She was collapsing on the inside, the same as on the outside.

Her veins had ruptured.

Her flat muscles went to tatters,42 and her thin bones snapped.

Nanami Yasuri unbridled, her true self.

Incapable of taking─but a single step.

Neither plucked like a weed.

Nor scattered like a flower.

She tumbled─like a ripe fruit.43

All on her own.

─Just one hit.

I thought I might last long enough to get in one hit, at least…

Was she paying44 for the ill-begotten energy that Akuto the Eel had afforded her? Even so─

“…”

As she collapsed, her vision blurred.45

She happened to be facing Togame, whose enviable46 tresses had been cropped short at the shoulders so that she looked just like a little kid47─

But it was with a pained frown that the Schemer greeted the crumbling mess that was Nanami.

─Ah.

Was that…unnecessary?

Did Miss Togame see this coming, and rub me the wrong way to provoke me─screaming like that?

Yet another scheme, at that stage?

Predicting that my body couldn’t stand up to the full force of my strength, did she aim to wear me down, if only by that much?

Putting herself on the line.

When she could have died.

Unlikely.

But maybe─that’s what having an agenda means?

The point of any─still eluded Nanami Yasuri.

But she chuckled anyway.

Another of her evil laughs, it made her body collapse all the more. The floorboards of the Inner Sanctum drew closer.

After all that.

It’s illness that kills me, after all?

─You should never have been born─

─Poor thing─

Poor thing, who should never have been born.

That’s me.

I should have died, I shouldn’t be alive.

Honestly.

I wish someone had killed me─

Doesn’t matter who, but well, if I could choose─

“Sis!”

Just as Nanami Yasuri began to close her eyes─her brother, Shichika Yasuri, made a run at her, aiming between her body and the floorboards.

He made it─barely.

─Shichika.

My─kid brother.

Finally─killing me.

“Last Fatal Orchid of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Hachiretsu Redux!”

Without hesitation.

Shichika unleashed his Last Fatal Orchid on Nanami.

“…”

By now the vessels of her brain had probably burst.

Nanami’s grip on consciousness was slipping,48 and her head had filled with fog.

And yet─her body had maintained its reflexes.

Her genius shone impeccably.

Even though the more it shone─the more her body fell apart.

Fielding Fatal Orchid Four, Ryuryoku Kako.

Dodging Fatal Orchid One, Kyoka Suigetsu.

Blocking Fatal Orchid Five, Hika Rakuyo.

Evading Fatal Orchid Seven, Rakka Rozeki.

Avoiding Fatal Orchid Three, Hyakka Ryoran.

Seeing through Fatal Orchid Six, Kinjo Tenka.

And catching Fatal Orchid Two, Kacho Fugetsu.

Defending herself.

Wracking her body with a pain more savage than if she had suffered the attack─she defended herself anyway.

As if it were simply good etiquette.49

But Shichika─would not let up.50

He refused to let up on Nanami.

After finishing Fatal Orchid Two, Kacho Fugetsu, he seized the collar of her monkish robes and stabbed her with his spear hand.

─I won’t make it.

Not in time.

With her unraveling body, she couldn’t defend herself in time─but in truth, not even his spear hand should have been capable of injuring her.

Her body was collapsing, unable to stand up to her own strength.

But she could still stand up─to anything from Shichika.

He came nowhere close to her.

Except.

The blade of his hand was aimed at Nanami’s bosom─her bosom.

The place where she had carried Akuto the Eel.

The gap yawning─from the middle of her chest.

Eyes on the hole─he drove his hand inside.

Ah, I see, Nanami thought to herself.

That’s what a sword gets─for trying to use another sword.

The swordsmen of the Kyotoryu did not refuse to use swords.

They were unable to use swords.

When it came to wielding swords, they possessed absolutely no ability.

─Oh, Dad.

I guess I’m part of the Kyotoryu, after all.

“Kyotoryu─Tampopo!”

The highest cliff can crumble from a single cavity─

Or so the saying51 goes.

Shichika plunged his spear hand deep─deep into Nanami’s breast.

That move.

Oddly enough─was perhaps Nanami’s favorite part of the Kyotoryu.

“…”

Lifted up forcibly, Nanami, who’d been about to collapse onto the floor─found herself leaning against Shichika’s giant body.

“Shichika.”

She had almost nothing left.

Giving it everything she had, and destroying herself in the process─she whispered in her brother’s ear.

“Shichika, y-you…”

You really killed me.

Is what she meant to say.

To praise her little brother for proving he could beat his older sister.